Nelson Stephen Román (born July 29, 1960) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a United States district court, federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York (state), New York ...

Biography

Early life and education

Román was born in 1960 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

of Puerto Rican ancestry. He was raised in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

and educated in the New York City public schools system. He graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. He received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1984 from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

. He received his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

in 1989 from

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty. Brookly ...

. Prior to receiving his J.D., he worked as a police officer in

for seven years.

Legal career

From 1989 to 1995, Román served as an Assistant District Attorney in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and for the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. He served as a law clerk for Judge Jose A. Padilla, Jr. of the New York City Civil Court from 1995 to 1998. He served as a Judge of the New York City Civil Court from 1998 to 2002, handling housing cases during his first two years and civil matters during his final two years. He served as a justice of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

Bronx County The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York ...

from 2003 to 2009 where he handled civil matters. He served as an associate justice of the First Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court from 2009 to 2013, having been appointed to that post by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...

. He served as president of the

Puerto Rican Bar Association The Puerto Rican Bar Association (PRBA) is a voluntary association of lawyers of Puerto Rican ethnicity or interest. It is to be distinguished from the Bar Association of Puerto Rico or ''Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico'', which is the bar as ...

from 1997–1998.

Federal judicial service

On September 20, 2012, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

nominated Román to serve as a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, to the seat vacated by Judge

Richard M. Berman Richard Miles Berman (born September 11, 1943) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education and early career Berman received his Bachelor of Science degree from Cor ...

who assumed senior status on September 11, 2011. On January 2, 2013, his nomination was returned to the President, due to the sine die adjournment of the Senate. On January 3, 2013, he was renominated to the same office. He received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 23, 2013, and his nomination was reported to the floor on February 28, 2013, by a voice vote. On May 9, 2013, his nomination was confirmed by a 97–0 vote. He received his commission on May 13, 2013.

References

External links